Ribbon feeder



- Dec. 23, 1941. 'G. H. SARGENT- RIBBON FEEDER Filed Nov. 6, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l m A. lw vv ll q v Dec. 23, 1941. G. H. SARGENT RIBBON FEEDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 6, 1940 Jzwm GEORGE H. SARGEN m.)

Patented Dec. '23, 1941 meson FEEDER George H. Sargent, Toronto, Ontario, Canada,

assignor to The Egry Register Company, Dayton, Ohio, a corporation of Qhio Application November 6, 1940, Serial No. 364,534 7 Claims. (Cl. 197-153)- This invention relates to ribbon feeders, and in particular to ribbon feeders in connection with typewriters or similar recording devices on which usually one original and simultaneously therewith at least one copy thereof is written.

Heretofore when preparing an original with copies thereof, for instance on a typewriter, it was necessary tofprovide one carbon paper for each copy to be made and to place it on top of each copy sheet when inserting the'sheets in the typewriter.

The employment of carbon papers for copies is particularly cumbersome and disadvantageous when writing a great number of small sized short letters or bills since, in this instance, the inserting of the carbon papers takes almost as much time as the typing of the letters or the bills in view of the fact that the carbons have to be removed from each sheet when they are written and to be inserted between the new sheets. ,Moreover, the carbons'have to be of the attachable to or detachable from a normal typewriter and the feeding mechanism for the copying spools is driven by the typewriter platen.

' Structural arrangement Referring now to the drawings in detail, the ribbon feeder according to the present invention comprises a frame, generally designated I,

size of the letters to be typed. It. is also to be mentioned that the carbons wear rapidly and, consequently, have to be replaced frequently.

Accordingly, it is an objectof the invention to provide a mechanism which although simple in construction will avoid the drawbacks above referred to.

It is another object of the invention to provide an assembly which is easily attached to a typewriter and which will allow preparing a copy simultaneously with an original being typed without the use of carbon paper.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a ribbon feeder which, in connection with One or more ribbons, willallow the preparation of copies of various sizes without the use of carbon paper.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly from the following specification in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which: A 4

Figure 1 shows a front view of an attachment according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a side view in perspective of the attachment shown in Figure 1.

Figure'3 shows the elements of the attachment for connecting the latter with a typewriter.

Figure 4 shows a detail of the connecting mechanisms illustrated in Figure 3.

General arrangement The ribbon feeder, according to the invention, comprises a plurality'of spools adapted to receive which is adapted to be connected with the frame 2 of a typewriter having a normal platen 3. The frame I comprises rectangularly shaped frame members 4 and 5 at each end of the frame which fully correspond with each other in construction so that the description of one frame member will be sufiicient. The corresponding members of the other frame member are, therefore, designated with the same reference numerals, how-" ever, with the addition of the letter a.

As will be seen from the drawings, the frame member 4 carries a hollow shaft 6 having rigidly connected therewith three spools I. 8 and 9, two of which are shown as being provided with ribbons I0 and II, whereas the spool 1 is empty. The spool I engages, by means of a pin I 2, or-

similar clutch member, a correspondingly shaped recess in a toothed disc l3, adapted frictionally to engag the typewriter platen 3. The-toothed disc 13 is rigidly connectedwith a shaft l4 passing through the hollow shaft 6 and being provided at its free end with a notch (not shown) adapted to receive a locking member or latch l5 for preventing longitudinal movement of the shaft It. The latch I 5 is pivotally connected by means of a pivot .22 with the inner side mem- -ber 23 of the framemember 4. The other end of the shaft l4 adjacent the toothed disc I3- is journaled in the side portion I6 of the frame member 4. The front portion of the frame member 4 has connected therewith, for instance by screws II, a guiding member l8 with triangularly shaped passages I9, 20 and.2l for the copying ribbons. Preferably the passages or guiding slots l9, 2|] and 2| are slightly offset with respect to each other so that they are located in different but parallel planes.

As will be seen from Figure 1, the ribbons I0 a ribbon and to be connected with a driving and II pass from the spools 8a, 9a, through the passages a, 2la respectively, where they makeasharpturnsoastorunparalleltothe platen 3 and then to pass through the passages 20, 2|, to the spools 8 and 9. Pivotally connected with the inner side member 22, by means of a pivot 24, is a lever provided at one end with a lever arm 22 and on the other end with a curved notch 21 adapted to engage the connecting rod 28 connecting the frame members 4 and t with one another. The length of the lever II is such that when this lever is shifted into a position in which the notch 21 engages the rod 28, the toothed disc I} is spaced from the platen I so as not to engage the latter, On the other hand, if the lever 25 is disengaged from the rod 28, thespring 29 pulls the frame 4 downwardly so as to cause a frictional engagement of the toothed disc II with the platen 3, thereby causing rotation of the disc l3 and, consequently, the spools 1, a and s when the platen s is rbtated. The spring 29 has one end thereof threaded through a hole 30 in the upper portion of the guidingmember I! while the other 'endof the spring 29 is threaded through a hole 3| in the frame arm 32. The frame arm 32 has pivotally connected therewith by means of a pivot 33 a locking lever 34 the lower and of which is provided with a hook shaped portion 35 which, when the frame I is locked to the typewriter, engages the stud 50 connected to the locking arm 32. The frame arm 32 is in its turn rotatable about 24 also causes a shifting movement of the locking arm 220. Now the locking levers l4 and 3441 are operatedso that the lower hook shaped portion of lever 84 engages the stud I0, while the corresponding portion of lever 34a engages a corresponding stud (not shown). The assembly is now firmly locked to the typewriter frame. In order to effect a proper operation of the winding spools, one of the toothed discs, for instance disc I2, is disengaged from the platen 2 by shifting the lever 24 so that its notched portion 21 engages the rod 22 as shown in Figure 1, thereby spacing the disc II from the platen 3. The lever Ila then occupies a position likewise shown in Figure 1, so that the toothed disc lia'frictionally engages the typewriter platen 3. When the typewriter platen is now rotated in the usual manner by moving the carriage from its outermost right-hand position to its outermost left-hand position, it will, by friction with the toothed disc ll, rotate the latter in the direction indicated by the arrow, thereby winding a predetermined porthe connecting rod 38 which also connects the frame members 4 and 5 with each other. The locking arm 38 which is keyed to the connecting rod 35, for instance by means of a locking screw 31, is provided at its lower end with a notch 22 for engaging a locking pin 40 rigidly connected with the typewriter frame 2. In other words, the spring 29 continuously urges-the arm 32 upwardly and, thereby, also the lever 24 which thus, by means of stud 50,; keeps the arm-28 in engagement with the locking pin 40 on the typewriter frame.

As will be seen from the drawings, engagement of the locking arm 38 with the pin 40 and of the hook shaped portion 25 of the lever 34 with the stud 5 0 flrmly locks the frame I to the typewriter, dueto the action of the spring". Keyed to the connecting rod- 36 is furthermore a hook shaped stopping member 4| forming a stop for the lever' 25. Rotatably mounted on the connecting rod 36 is furthermore a hook 42 adapted to engage a rod provided on the rear side of the typewriter and carrying the'usual paper guide (not shown in the drawings) forming alateral abutment for the papersheets inserted in'the typewriter. To facilitate the engagement of the hook 42 with'therod 45, the hook 42 is provided with a handle. The frame members 4 and I are providedin'the'usual manner with tensioning members "and 43a held'in their position by screws-44 and bearing'against the ribbons soas to hold-the same properly tensioned.

To locate the assembly according to the present invention on the typewriter, the locking levers 34 and 34a are shifted in anti-clockwise direction. The assembly is then placed upon the typewriter so that the" toothed disc I! and toothed disc I3a-engage the typewriter platen 3. The handle 46 is then operated so that the hook 42 engages the rod 45, while the locking arm 38 locking pin 40. Since the locking arms 38 and 38a are rigidly connected with the connecting rod 36, shifting movement of the locking arm .is shifted so that its notch 39 embraces the tion of the ribbons of! the spools I and I and on the spools 4a and la.

The ribbon feeder, according'to the present invention, is of particular advantage when typing relatively short letters or bills of similar character. In this instance the bills may, for example, be connected with each other by a perforation and form a long band wound up on a roll. One roll will then be used as the original while a number of further rolls corresponding to the number of copies to be made'will be fed, together with the original" roll through a typewriter connected with the ribbon feeder, according to the invention. As will be clear from the above description of the invention, all rollers can then continuously be fed through the typewriter and the ribbon feeder without interruption whereupon, after having prepared the bills, the single bills may be torn oil along the perforations.

It will be understood that I desire to comprehend within my invention such modifications as come within the scope of the claims and the invention.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

l. A ribbon feeder comprising in combination a frame, spool receiving means at each end of said frame, driving means operatively connected and spool'receivingme'ansas aunit to or from'a typewriter, yielding means associated with said frame for yieldln'gly maintaining said frame and typewriter interlocked, and means for effecting driving connection between said typewriter and said driving means. n

2'. A ribbon feeder comprising in combination a' frame, spool receivin'g means at each end of said frame, driving means operatively connected with said spool receiving means, and locking means including a lever mechanism for detachably and yieldin'gly locking said frame as a unit to the frame of a typewriter and establishing fridtional driving connection between said driving means and the platen of said typewriter. 3. A ribbon feeder comprising in combination a frame, spaced spool receiving means supported by said frame and adapted to receive two sets of spools for receiving typewriter ribbons, guiding means for said typewriter ribbons to guide said ribbons from one set of spools to the other set of spools and vice versa, means operable to effect sets of spools adapted to cooperate with each other so as to pass ribbons from one set of spools to the other set of spools and vice versa, a pair of driving members respectively associated with each set of spools and operatively connected therewith, said driving members being adapted to convey the movement of said typewriter platen to said spools, means associated with each driving member for selectively moving the driving member pertaining thereto into operative or inoperative position, lever means operable selectively for attaching said frame with said spools as a unit to or detaching the same as a unit from said typewriter, and yielding means associated with said frame for maintaining a yielding connection between said frame andsaid typewriter.

5. A ribbon feeder comprising in combination a frame, means supported by said frame forreceiving two spaced sets of spools adapted to pass typewriter ribbons from one set of spools to another set of spools and vice versa, driving members associated with each set of spools, guiding means connected with said frame for guid ing said ribbons in different planes, lever means, yieldingly connected with said frame and oper-' able selectively for yieldingly and detachably connecting said frame together with said spools as a unit to the frame of a typewriter, and means for effecting driving connection between said making said driving means effective driving members and the writer. 7

6. A ribbon feeder attachment comprising in combination, a frame, two spaced sets of spools supported by said frame, the spools of each set being axially aligned, a first lever having one end pivotally connected to said frame and the other end yieldingly connected to said frame, a second lever shiftably mounted in said frame and proplaten of said type- ,vided with means for selective engagement with'a typewriter or similar recording device, a third lever pivotally connected with said first lever and operable selectively to engage said second lever for locking said frame to said typewriter or recording device, and means associated with said spools and operable selectively for effecting a driving connection between said spools and a driving member on saidtypewriter or recording device.

7. A typewriter attachment comprising in combination, two spaced frames, each frame hav-'- ing a set of spools with the spools in axial alignment with each other, spacing means spacing and interconnecting said frames, a lever pivotally connected to one of said frames and operable selectively for engaging a typewriter and connecting said frames thereto, driving means associated with each of said spools and adapted to engage a driving member on said typewriter, means associated with said spools for selectively or ineffective, and yielding means associated with said frames for holding said lever in yielding connection with said typewriter and continuously urging said.

driving means into engagement with said driving member on said typewriter.

GEORGE H. SARGEN'I'. 

